


Can't lose you, too.

by PridefulSinner



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Kinda sorta OOC, how do you tag?, i wrote a thing, no seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-31
Updated: 2013-07-30
Packaged: 2017-12-21 23:02:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/905990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PridefulSinner/pseuds/PridefulSinner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek didn't believe it, he wouldn't. She wasn't gone, he couldn't lose her, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter one.

**Author's Note:**

> By popular demand on my tumblr, I made this ficlet a story of its own. I hope you guys enjoy it. :)

Derek didn't want to believe it, the girl in his arms wasn't dead. She couldn't be, he never believed it, so it couldn't be true. She couldn't be gone, she just...

He squeezed his eyes shut, hugging her body a bit closer to him, he looked up at those in the room, took a deep breath, as if to say something, but couldn't find the words. He shook his head and turned on his heel, exiting the vault. He held Erica, cradled her to his chest, murmuring softly beneath his breath and against her hair.

“I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.” It was his fault she was dead, there was no doubt in his mind. If he'd just been a better alpha, if he hadn't promised her a better life, if he hadn't bitten her, she'd be alive. She'd be okay.

The strange thing was, she didn't smell like death, a scent that Derek had been all too familiar with at a young age, she just... didn't smell alive either. He didn't know what to do. He held her closer, stuck to the shadows, made sure her hair covered the color distortions on her body so no one would stop and question him. He needed to take her home... he needed...

He needed her. He held her tighter.

He doesn't know how he ended up on Lydia's door step, didn't even realize that's where he was until he heard her gasp when she opened the door. He looked up, voice positively wrecked. “Help me, please. She... can't...” He looked down at Erica again, her eyes were closed now, her head resting against his shoulder as if she were asleep. The lack of a heart beat proved to him otherwise.

“How?” Lydia asked, eying the street before stepping aside to let Derek in.

“I don't know.” He sighed, burring his nose in Erica's hair, “Please, you... you've got to bring her back.”

Lydia pursed her lips, she knew he had to have meant it for him to show up at her house, for Derek Hale to look so weak and vulnerable in her presence, she just. She didn't know how.

Lydia shook her head, entering the kitchen, she cleared off the island counter and watched as Derek gently laid Erica on the counter top. “I don't think I can.”

Derek brushed a stray curl out of Erica's face before his hands clenched into fists ontop of the counter, he looked up at Lydia, eyes bleeding red. “Bring. Her. Back!”

“I don't know how!”

Derek roared, slamming his fist down on the marble, “BRING HER BACK!”

Lydia pursed her lips and looked between the two werewolves in her house, Derek was a mess and Erica... well, she was dead. “I don't know how! Peter was the one controlling me, making me do those things, I don't know how, Derek. I don't remember.”

Derek crumbled a bit, his hands still curled into fists his forehead resting against Erica's middle, a pained growl leaving his throat. “Please... Lydia, I... I can't lose her, too.”

Lydia bit her bottom lip, looked between the two again, she remembered the pain at hearing of Jackson's death, she remembered everything she felt, she was sure she wasn't much better than Derek right now. With a shaky breath, she straightened her shoulders, held her chin up and took a step closer to Erica. “Call Peter, tell him to get here now. Bring whatever voodoo shit we need, I'll do my best.”

Derek looked up at Lydia, pain and anguish still on his face, but hope and gratefulness glistened in his eyes. “Thank you.”

Lydia just nodded curtly, pulled her hair up off of her neck and into a pony tail. “Don't thank me yet, it might not work.”

Derek looked up from his phone, “You're going to try though, you could've... just, thank you.”

Lydia smiled slightly, the faintest upturn of her lips. “You're welcome, now hurry up. I don't know how much time we may have.”

Derek nodded and stepped a few feet away to talk to his Uncle, never once taking his eyes off of the girls in the kitchen.

Peter showed up about fifteen minutes later, nose wrinkled up in disgust and arms heavy with herbs and books. “It won't work, I had her use the power of the moon to bring me back.”

Derek glared at his Uncle. “Yes it will.”

Lydia read from the books, archaic Latin coming in handy for something, it seemed. She mixed herbs, added liquids, cleaned Erica's skin, she frowned when she came to a particular part of the reading. “I need her blood, and yours.” She looked up at Derek, he hadn't let go of Erica's hand since Peter arrived.

He nodded. “Do it.”

Lydia nodded, grabbing a scalpel from her biology kit she'd grabbed early and gently ran it along Erica's palm, collecting some of the blood that leaked out of the gash in a clean container, she did the same to Derek, she had to collect his quicker, considering he was healing before the blade even finished it's path.

She mixed his blood with Erica's and added it to one of the three mixtures before her. The house was eerily quiet as she worked, Derek had his hand wound tightly over Erica's, his eyes closed as his lips moved in a soundless whisper, apologizing, telling her he was sorry, telling her that she'd be okay. Making her promise after promise that he didn't mean for this to happen...

Peter watched his nephew, a pain digging in his chest. This wasn't the first time he'd seen Derek so broken, he can honestly say he'd never wanted to see it again.

He moved from his perch against the wall and stood beside Lydia, working along side her. Lighting the necessary candles, and mixing things as she instructed.

“Okay.” Lydia looked up, biting her bottom lip. “I just have to apply these balms, say something, and... it says you “With the bite of an alpha, it will be done.” She turned to Derek. “You okay with that?”

He nodded. “Anything, if it'll bring her back.”  
Lydia covered the slice in Erica's hand with one balm, smears and traced ruins against the dead-girls skin with another, and looked at Derek, nodding her head.

Derek took a deep breath, letting the muscles and joints in his neck crack as the shift took over, he brushed a kiss against the hand he'd been holding before his fangs elongated and he brought Erica's wrist to his lips. Please work. He begged, closing his eyes as he sunk his teeth in.

Lydia covered the bite mark in the salve mixed with the blood, wrapped it in cotton and whispered a chant.

They all waited, Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours, and when ten minutes passed and nothing happened. Derek crumbled against the counter top, taking Erica's hand in his again.

“I'm sorry, Derek.” Lydia whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder before she shoved Peter out of the room.

It was quiet for a few minutes, as Derek wallowed in his own grief, he could hear Peter and Lydia shifting awkwardly out side. “I'm sorry.” He whispered, squeezing Erica's hand. “So sorry, I should've done better, I should have found you sooner... you were so close. I should've told you... I'm sorry.”

His eyes squeezed shut tightly. “I'll make them pay, They won't get away with this, I won't let them.”

The faintest sound started him from the silence, a gasp, an intake of breath, a rapidly beating heart. His head snapped up. Erica's skin was free from blemishes, her chest was rising and falling in spuratic bursts, her eyes moving rapidly beneath their lids.

“Lydia!” Derek yelled, standing over Erica, cradling her head in his hands. “Come on, Erica. Wake up, please.” He begged.

Lydia ran into the room, just as Erica's eyes snapped open, bright amber bleeding through before they faded to her normal, warm brown.

“Hey.” She whispered, voice thick and rough, having not been using it in what felt like years.

Derek laughed, pressing his forehead against hers, her head still cradled in his hands, his face marred by tear trails that he hadn't even known were there. “Hey.”

“I'll call Deaton, he's going to want to check her over.”

Derek just nodded as Lydia moved to leave the room. “Please tell me this isn't a dream.” He whispered against Erica's hair.

“Pretty sure I wouldn't feel like crap if this were a dream, Der.”

He laughed again, burring his nose in her hair, kissing the top of her head. “I'm sorry.”

“Me too.”

“What the hell do you have to be sorry for? Erica, I failed you. It's my fault.?”  
“Not believing in you.”

He sighed, taking her hand in his. “I didn't deserve it.”

“Did too, do now too. Derek, I wouldn't be here, if it weren't for you.”

“That was all Lydia.”

She shook her head, and smiled sadly at him. “Not all of it.”

“Shut up, you should be resting. Wait till Deaton get's here okay? I can't lose you, not again.”

Erica smiled softly, laying her head back down on the counter, her hand wound tightly in his. “You can't get rid of me that easily. I'm not going anywhere.”


	2. Chapter two.

“Everything seems to be fine.” Deaton said after having checked all of Erica’s vitals at least six times. “She’s healing, not as fast as usual, but still. Just, take it easy. Anything too strenuous might throw off the magic before it’s ran its course, and the outcome could be messy.”

Erica nodded, she was sitting on the table top now instead of laying down. Her jacket had been discarded and you could see the faint bruises slowly healing over on her skin. Derek was by her side, his body touching hers subtly in at least three different places. He needed to be sure that she was there, that he wasn’t dreaming, she was alive. She was okay… She was… just, she was there.

“Promise.” Erica bobbed her head, a small smile on her lips. “Thanks.”

Deaton nodded before he turned to Peter, “Can we talk?”

Peter groaned, but followed the vet outside. He knew those books would get him in trouble one day.

Once the adults had left the room, Erica looked up to see Lydia cleaning up her kitchen, trying to give her and Derek some privacy while still being in the room. “Lydia?”

The red-head looked up from placing a bowl into the sink. “Hm?”

“Thank you.”

Lydia smiled slightly, nodding her head. “You’re welcome.”

Derek ran his hand along Erica’s back, pulling her against his side and kissing the top of her head. “Lydia, I’ll clean this up.”

Lydia pursed her lips, about to protest, because she could tell the last thing he wanted to do was be even an inch away from Erica.

“Let him.” Erica laughed lightly, “You can help me find a bathroom? I really need a shower, and some clean clothes.”

Derek looked torn between letting Erica go, and demanding she never leave his side again.

“I think I have some old sweats that’ll fit you, they’re comfortable.”

Erica nodded. “That sounds great, thanks. Der, help me down?”

Derek sighed, gingerly placing his hands at Erica’s waist and helped her off of the counter. She stumbled a bit on her feet, but he kept her upright. Lydia even helped her exit the kitchen and up the stairs to the bathroom.

He could hear the girls talking quietly and Lydia helped Erica run a bath.

“Do you want me to stay?” Lydia asked softly, pile of folded clothes in her hand. Erica looked up, nodding slightly. “Let me get in first, if you don’t mind?”

“Just call when you’re ready.”

While the girls were upstairs, Derek closed the books and cleaned up the mess the salves and potions had made, listening to the quiet murmurs of Lydia and Erica talking as Erica got cleaned up. He was tuned into her entirely; he needed to make sure he could still hear her, that she was still there and breathing and alive.  
It took Erica twenty minutes to feel clean again, and another five before she and Lydia came downstairs. He hadn’t moved a muscle from the kitchen, still leaning against the island.

“Feel better?”

Erica nodded, gravitating towards him to lean against his chest, he welcomed the feeling and wrapped his arms around her, he could feel her heart beating against her chest, where it was pressed against his.

“You should call the pack.” She mumbled, Lydia said Allison texted her, telling her that you guys found me, and then you left. Derek, they’re probably worried.”

Derek sighed, and looked up at Lydia who was watching them with a sad smile, she knew how it felt to just want to be with one person and one person alone, she’d been there. Now that one person was in London.

“I’ll text Allison, tell her to come here and have Scott tell Isaac and Stiles to come, too.”

Derek nodded, thanking her without words and just held Erica a little tighter. “You two go sit down.” She nodded towards the living room.

Erica pulled away from Derek her hand still in his as she padded softly into the livingroom, sinking into the couch and pulling him down beside her. She curled against his side, tucking her feet under her body and closed her eyes.

Derek’s heart beat sped up, her eyes closed reminded him of just an hour or two ago when he thought he’d never see her eyes again.

“Calm down, just resting.” She whispered.

When the gang showed up; more like stormed through the front door, Derek and Lydia were talking quietly together.

Allison had a dagger in her hand, Scott and Stiles were just staring wide-eyed at the blonde curled against Derek’s side, and Isaac, he looked torn.

“Erica?” He whispered, scared to take a step forward. This was his pack-mate, the girl he had once trusted with his life, the girl he thought was dead.

“She’s sleeping.” Lydia said with a small smile, “Allison, sit down. Nothing’s going to happen right now.”

The huntress looked unsure but sheathed the dagger and moved to sit beside her bestfriend.

Isaac stumbled into the room, kneeling before Derek and Erica. “But… how?” He looked up at Derek, before his eyes studied the peaceful, sleeping and very not dead face of Erica.

Derek tightened his hand on Erica’s shoulder, looking down at his Beta’s for a moment and then to Lydia. “Lydia and Peter helped, she’ll be okay. Deaton said something about the magic running its course, she’s not entirely out of the woods yet, but she will be.”

Stiles slumped down on the far end of the couch that Lydia and Allison were on and ran his hand down his face. “Holy shit.”

 

Derek just nodded, the room smelled of pack, and comfort and belonging, which was saying something considering Allison was there. Lydia earned her spot when she helped him with Erica. He’d forever be thankful to the strawberry blonde.

Erica groaned softly, stretching out and blinking her eyes open, a little smile on her face. “ hmm, hi ‘saac.”

Isaac laughed, eyes wet with relief. “ hey.”

Erica’s eyes focused and she stiffened a bit at seeing Allison, but she also saw Stiles and Scott. “Scott, Batman.” She wiggled her fingers slightly.

“Don’t you ever scare us like that again, Catwoman. It was totally not cool.”

“I’ll try not too.”

Derek laughed lightly, kissing the top of Erica’s head again. She’d sat up and rest it against his shoulder.

The group took in his body language, and it clicked for half of them. (The other half was really just Scott who was still amazed that Erica was alive and there, but really… how is all that surprising, he’d seen Peter and Jackson come back before.) Derek loved her.

“So, what’s the plan?” She asked, looking at the group around her.

“You’re staying somewhere safe.” Derek said, voice firm and unwavering, he covered her mouth with his hand when she went to protest. “No, Erica. I won’t lose you again, until Deaton says that the magic ran it’s course and you’re 100% better, you’re not fighting, you’re not putting yourself in danger. I can’t lose you, I won’t.”

She huffed, but nodded her head, waiting till he moved his hand away before she looked at Isaac. “Promise to kick their asses extra hard for me? I’d like it if you guys left a piece of that bitch for me to destroy as well.”

“First.” Stiles spoke up, standing and scrubbing at his face and looking at the group in front of him, he took in Allison and Lydia perched on one couch, Scott in a lounge chair, Derek and

Erica on the other with Isaac contently on the floor in front of them, he locked eye with Erica a moment, and then to Derek.  
“First we find Boyd.”

Erica wet her lips and nodded before adding softly, looking up at Derek. “And Cora.”

Derek squeezed her a bit tighter against him at the mention of his sister, he got her back and he’d get his little sister back too. Nothing would stop him, he’d protect them this time, he had too.

“And then, we stop them.” Scott spoke up, finally looking up at the rest of the group. “For everyone they hurt and killed, we stop them now.”

For once Derek agreed, he nodded his head and looked at his two Beta’s, the Huntress, The loud mouth Human, the not-so-human Lydia, and finally at Scott. “We make them pay.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm new to posting on ao3, so if the formatting it weird and off I'm sorry, I'm still getting used to how to actually format everything here.


End file.
